In 1981, production manager Art Levinson was scouring for a suitable locale to film 'Falcon Crest'. Villa Miravalle was chosen.
Built in 1885 by Albert Scroepfer, the 12,000-square-foot Victorian house, Villa Miravalle (meaning Valley View) was sitting on top of the 257-acre Miravalle estate, which was also home to the Spring Mountain Winery founded in 1968 and the 24-acre St. Clements Vineyards.
Michael and Shirley Robbins bought Villa Miravalle in 1974, renamed the house Falcon Crest in 1981 for the TV series.
He recounted, "We were very private (people)...'Falcon Crest' came to us about using the exterior of the house. When we bought it, the house had been vacant for 40 years...We thought they were coming in to film something like 'The Waltons'...They spend about 2 weeks a year filming on our property, all outside."
'Falcon Crest' was a hit. "Tourists," he continued, "coming through the Napa Valley manage to find our house, and we find we can’t walk out the front door without being photographed...We did lose our privacy. Two years after the show started, people were climbing the fence to get in...We'll look up and see people looking through our windows. When we’re away, they’ll come into the house and start browsing through the library, going through our silver. They’re not looking to steal anything, they just want the thrill."
Napa Valley, named for an Indian tribe, was about 25 miles long (or 40 kilometres). Michael Robbins believed, "This area is an irreplaceable national asset. No other place in California, or the world, can equal what we do." Robert Louis Stevenson reportedly christened Napa Valley "Valley of Plenty". "I don’t know whether to call it Spring Mountain any more or 'Falcon Crest,'" one winemaker remarked in 1982. Michael Robbins passed away in January 2013.
